THE LEDGE ONLINE
The Delicate Ecology of Life
Have you ever walked out into the garden after a rain shower and seen a spider's web awesomely outlined with droplets of water glistening in the sun light? Like little diamonds sparkling as they swing in mid-air. Such an intricate construction and yet, you can brush it away with your hand, or a gust of wind can bring it all crashing down. We both know that life has moments, even seasons just like that web. Looks amazing from the outside but it can be shattered when we least expect it. That is when we need resilience to build again. Just like people who live in a typhoon or hurricane prone area. You cannot control the timing or the intensity. Maybe it is a fire or earthquake. Life can be brittle. Relationships can come apart; jobs can be lost; arguments can divide the family. But when we build our self-worth on the love and acceptance of our Heavenly Father we always have a refuge in the times of storm.
We may live our whole life without a violent event or drama, but that life is lived in the vagueness of shadowy desires, castles in the air, ever wishing but never possessing. Does that sound familiar? Then it is time to nail your desires down, it is time to take them to God in prayer, to believe you receive the answer, without any doubt in your heart, and you shall have the petition you desire.
Jesus then added a very important clause to this formula for answered prayer. In the book of Mark, chapter 11, verses 25 and 26 we receive the following advice: ‘… when you pray, if you hold a bad attitude against another, forgive that person. Let it go, leave it, let it drop, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you your shortcomings and let them drop'.
The channels of hope and expectant faith become choked with deep-seated feelings against another.
Jesus specifically mentioned trespasses. These are not sins in the general sense, but rather injuries and injustices that have been committed against you. We might never be able to justify the wrong action done against us. But when we genuinely forgive those who have trespassed against us, we disentangle our emotions from that event freeing us from the need for revenge and medical research will attest to the fact that our bodies receive health, our emotions are free, and we can move on in life.
If you find your prayers don’t get answered and your faith seems ineffective, then check your heart and ask God to identify unforgiveness. Take action and see what a difference it makes as you seek to follow this divine formula for getting answers to your prayers and receiving the things you desire.